Hh is for hide and seek.

 

Hh is for hide and seek is our theme this week. We will look and listen for the letter Hh and play hide and seek and learn about animal camouflage.

KDI- Our Key Development Indicator for the week is Natural and Physical World- Children gather knowledge about the natural and physical world.- As we look at animals that camouflage and how and why they do it, we see how we took their skills and make them our own.

Table Activities-Table activities this week include rice find bags, matching animals to where they can camouflage, sensory bins with hiding animals, coloring a chameleon to match their background, hidden pictures, hiding butterflies, crazy mixed up chameleon paint bag, and find the hiding animal.

Small Group Activities- Small group includes camouflaging an animal, hidden pictures, adding Hh is for hide and seek to our journal and taking turns hiding and seeking an animal.

Large Group Activities- This week we will play hide and seek, hide some animals to be found outside, freeze dance (since staying still is a big part of camouflage!) and let them hide animals for each other to find outside.

Books of the Week- "Where's Spot?" by Eric Hill, "The Runaway Bunny" by Margaret Wise Brown, "A Color of His Own" by Leo Lionni and "Where in the Wild? Camouflaged Creatures Concealed and Revealed" by David Schwartz and Yael Schy.

Bible Time- This week we are hearing about the Wise Men. Mary and Joseph stayed in Bethlehem after Jesus' birth. It was not safe for a new mother and child to travel and they found a house to live in after Jesus' was born. At the time of Jesus' birth, a star had appeared in the sky. Some wise men had seen this star. We don't know how many or where exactly they were from except the east. They could have been from Persia or Babylon, both places that Israel had been conquered by and people taken to in the Old Testament. Someone from Israel, like Daniel, had shared the knowledge of the Bible with the people in that country and they were waiting and watching for the sign that the promised Messiah had come. When they saw the the star, they prepared for the journey. They traveled for months and packed with them special gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to give to the infant King. They followed the star as far a Jerusalem, where King Herod resided. They thought people in the capital would know about a king being born, so they asked around. The people of Jerusalem were disturbed by the news. Herod was not a king who wanted to be replaced. He had already killed several family members who he imagined were a threat to him, what would he do now?? The wise men didn't know this about him and asked him for assistance in finding the new king. Herod had his wise men look in the Scriptures to see where the baby might have been born. They found the passage in Micah- But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times."

He pointed the wise men toward Bethlehem, a small village right outside Jerusalem, but asked them to return when they had found the child. He said he wanted to worship also, but he really wanted to kill him. 

The wise men proceeded to Bethlehem, following the star, until it stopped over the house where Jesus was. They worshipped him and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. They were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, so they went home a different way. 

Joseph was also warned in a dream to flee to Egypt because Herod was going to harm Jesus. 

God shared the good news of Jesus with people all over the world and he kept Jesus safe to do the work that he had come to do. God has us and our futures, as uncertain as we may feel they are, in his hands! What comfort in this new year!

I hope your Christmas and New Year's Celebrations were wonderful! Have a terrific week!